At a Bengaluru ceremony today, 4baseCare opened its new genomics laboratory and unveiled the Global Cancer Diversity Atlas to broaden precision oncology’s reach by filling critical data gaps in cancer genomics.
4baseCare stepped into its new Mahadevapura facility under the guidance of precision oncology veteran Hitesh Goswami, flanked by co-founder Kshitij Rishi. The ribbon was cut by Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman of Infosys, who then formally unveiled the Global Cancer Diversity Atlas (GCDA). In a packed hall, voices rang out for a single aim: to bring tailored cancer care to under-represented populations.
Goswami took the podium and pointed to the new lab’s sequencers and servers. “Our new genomics lab and the unveiling of the GCDA are driven by a single goal of creating better access to precision oncology. One of the key challenges in cancer care today is the lack of genomic data from Indian and Asian populations. This data gap has a significant impact on the effectiveness of cancer diagnostics and treatment strategies for under-represented communities,” he said. The lab will offer comprehensive gene panels, whole exome sequencing, and transcriptome analysis, tools that oncologists will use to map tumor mutations with greater accuracy.
Murthy, drawing on his experience with technology and scale, spoke of the GCDA’s reach. He described how Western-centric datasets leave millions of patients unseen and urged the audience to leverage the atlas in research and clinical trials. With regions from South Asia to Latin America included, the GCDA “is built on real-world data from India and the Global South, including South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Central Europe, and Latin America”. By covering this swathe of diversity, 4baseCare aims to make the atlas the “world’s most inclusive cancer genomics dataset.”
At the chat that followed, Ganapathy Subramaniam of Yali Capital and Rajan Anandan of Peak XV reflected on the need for deep-tech investments to keep up with rapidly evolving sequencing costs and data-analysis platforms. They praised GCDA as a foundational resource that partners—hospitals, diagnostic labs, pharma firms—could tap to validate biomarkers and design trials for novel therapies.
With the new lab, 4baseCare also announced plans to scale operations beyond Bengaluru. Goswami noted that the company has already rolled out a genomics facility in Dubai and one in the Philippines, adding that “through our lab, we are creating an infrastructure to build population-specific genomic data at scale. And with GCDA, our aim is to close the diversity gap in cancer research that can change how cancer diagnosis and treatment is approached worldwide.”
By evening’s close, the lab’s lights glowed softly against the Bangalore skyline. Researchers moved between benchtops and data terminals, already loading the first patient samples. 4baseCare’s founders lingered to discuss next steps: expanding the atlas to include more regions, partnering with public-sector hospitals, and integrating GCDA insights into global drug development pipelines.
Today’s inauguration was more than a ribbon cutting. It was a declaration that precision oncology in India would no longer rely solely on Western data, and that patients from every corner of the Global South would finally have their genomic profiles represented and their treatment strategies optimized.
